Alcohol

The wine numbed her and the pills did the rest

 

Bleary-eyed and boozy, he reached for the bottle like a baby

 

The captain was well into his cups by then

 

The liquor smashed all reason from her lips

 

Though his words were slurred, their meaning was clear

 

He made to stand, staggered, then sprawled to the piss-stained street

 

His steps were slow, his speech slurred

 

The bottle drained, he turned to face me with a look of contempt

 

His breath reeked of wine and his eyes were unfocused

 

With a drunken leer, he reached for the front of her dress

 

He cracked a fresh six-pack, eager to forget

 

He nursed his brandy and brooded into the night

 

She cursed and screamed as they tossed her out of the bar

 

In that lonesome alley, booze-addled brains nursed bottles of death

 

The drink confused him, made him stumble over his words

 

Theirs was a night soaked in beer and madness

 

The beer-soaked night gave way to revulsion in the morning

 

oHe drank deep into the night and cursed the dawn

 

He was dead drunk until he saw the gun, then he was merely dead

 

Her boozy smile promised more than she could deliver

 

Fueled by whiskey, the leer on the sailor's face widened

 

Drunken hands itched to possess her, to smash her trembling flesh to his

 

The drink had him in its power and he was useless to her now

 

The only love his ugly face could get was from a bottle

 

Greasy lips wrapped tight around the half-empty bottle and sucked